Seattle U. pulls out 85-84 win over Fresno State

Seattle University spent the final eight minutes of Thursday’s home opener scratching and trapping. Punished inside all night by bigger Fresno State, the Redhawks chose to blitz any Bulldog ball handler. It worked.

Braden VanDragt / seattlepi.com

Cervante Burrell, who scored the winning points, celebrates at the end of the Redhawks’ home opener in KeyArena.

After leading by as many as 11 points in the first half, Seattle U. was able to claw back and take its first win of the season 85-84 over Fresno State in front of 4,713 in KeyArena on a soggy Thursday night.

The Redhawks tapped history for the home opener. Elgin Baylor sat next to the court that was named for him. Twenty eight other Redhawk legends joined him to be honored at halftime. Presentations and pageantry were planned. The final basket wasn’t.

A would-be isolation for leading scorer Charles Garcia turned into a Chris Gweth drive. Gweth stormed toward the left side of the hoop and the ball came loose. It fell right in front of point guard Cervante Burrell who laid it up and in with 8.3 seconds remaining.

The Redhawks were able to force Fresno State’s 20th and final turnover with one last trap, the ball rightfully ending up in Burrell’s hands who then hurled it toward the ceiling.

Seattle head man Cameron Dollar screamed with fists clenched prior to composing himself and shaking hands with the Bulldogs. He received a hug from his father, Donald, and his first Division I win as a head coach was official.

“It’s exciting to just be a part of this,” Dollar said. “I’m enjoying every moment of it. To give my players and everybody a once in a lifetime experience is really something that you can’t put into words.”

If a word was applicable to the end of the game it would be chaos. Too short to deal with Fresno State inside, Dollar decided to use a smaller lineup to trap and torment the Bulldogs. Fresno State gave it up 11 times in the second half. The Redhawks turned that into just enough points. After two road losses to open the season — at Oklahoma State and at Portland — the Redhawks received their first touch of success in 2009.

“Success breeds that confidence,” Dollar said. “A lot of times along the way, success can be a little further down the road than confidence. To have some early success is going to do nothing but give them more confidence.”

Inescapable for now is Dollar’s connection to the University of Washington. Huskies Isaiah Thomas, Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Venoy Overton sat a few rows back to watch their former assistant coach run his club. It was enough to leave Thomas Tweeting about how weird it was to see Dollar barking at another player.

The shouted instructions became clear after e double-digit first half lead turned to a second-half deficit. Seattle flashed a zone defense for a possession then was unleashed midway through the half as it fell behind.

“You know what? We’re just going to get them,” Dollar said of his strategical decision. “Speed ‘em up and let’s play. If we’re going to go out, we’re going to go out swinging.”

So it went. The score was tied at 73 with 4:49 remaining. A dunk by Fresno State’s Greg Smith put the Bulldogs up two. The next time Seattle would lead was after a Garrett Lever layup, which naturally came following a steal, with 40 seconds remaining.

Smith scored when he had a mismatch in the post, putting the Bulldogs up a point with 14 seconds remaining. There would be only one more shot.

Vaunted and versatile Charles Garcia scored 21 points and added 12 rebounds though he struggled at the free-throw line, shooting just 10-of-18. Gweth finished with a stout 12 points. Burrell scored 16 as did Aaron Broussard. Mike Boxley chipped in 14 points during a perfect shooting night, 5-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line.

It was a night dedicated to the past with a halftime ceremony honoring the 29 best players in the history of the school. Chief among them was Baylor who had not been around the program in five decades.

But this was a big step in the present. Fresno State was 2-0 coming in and expected to compete in the WAC this season. It’s win No. 1 for Dollar and his crew. The next historical chapter comes Sunday when Weber State visits KeyArena at 2:10 p.m.

“As we have success throughout the year, they have no idea how good they can be,” Dollar said. “They have no idea what they have in them.”
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